I love walking on my own. It is never a lonely experience. There is too much to see and too much to take in . Even on Day 24 of the lockdown I am still finding nooks and a cranny or two in our village that I have never investigated before . Yes I am coveri

Although there's not much very interesting I thought you might like to see a few pictures of the little we did over Easter.

I take a sharp intake of breath as I test what the air temperature is outside . The chill of the frosty night has not yet been burned away that frosty morning feeling. My breath comes out like a thick wisp of smoke. I need my gilet on today to keep me warm

Around the main island of Lombok there are many many Gilis islands. Some of them inhabited some just some rocks bushes but all having wonderful white sands turquoise waters and stunning views. Being on search for a nice Gili we finally decided to

Capita spesso in Africa di trascorrere tutta la giornata compressi su di un sudicio e surriscaldato taxi in compagnia di un'altra decina di sventurati passeggeri nel disperato tentativo di riuscire a percorrere senza intoppi quella decina di chilometri c

It happens to every traveler You wake up in another dorm or hotel you wipe the sleep off your eyes and you take one foot out of bed but you just dont have the juice to get your through another day of travel.Sure these are the moments that you dre

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings hope too can be given to one only by other human beings. Elie WieselThere is no doubt social media has had a strangely perverse impact on this whole Covid19 pandem

Sometimes you have to try something different . Chesterfield area is not all Peak District pretty . Nor is full to the brim with pretty stone cottages . Stone walls fields and Bluebell Woods . There is another side . The A61 divides the two halves . The P

I was down to cook lunch on Sunday but there was so much food left over after the Braai I had a very easy job I did help Remi make veggie tempura for supper which we deep fried once in the afternoon then refried after the evenings survey. As it was Re

THE LION OF MISSOURIAs part of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 the State of Missouri was admitted to the union as a slave holding state. Slavery was part of their statehood charter. When the Civil War fetched loose in 1861 Missouri did not have

Most of the time we dread April 15th. For those of you outside of the U.S. it is the day our income taxes are due. But this year is a little different due to the Covid19 crisis. I went ahead and paid my Federal but still await a small refund from t

Snuggling up inside the duvet it was hard to make the decision to wake up fully and rise . The sun was slowly rising above the trees . There was a hint of a chilly morning out of the sun . Walking early is a pleasure before the rest of the world has woken

After one of the best night's sleep I'd had in a long time I woke up to find my clothes all dry from the night before. Great start to the day and when I looked out of the window it looked like the rain had stopped whether that would last I wasn't too s

I wrote this back in 2013. I am reposting in the hopes that you might donate to City Lights Bookstore as they struggle through the quarantine in San Francisco. It is by far the most historic and unusual bookstore I have ever visited. They have been r

The brain this morning does not want to function . One side is saying get up get moving get out . The other side replies in a negative fashion . Let me stay in bed a bit longer. My foot aches . Underneath and on top. Shoes are rubbing toes from so much

For those of you who must travel right now it must be a daunting experience. Fortunately planes are not full airports nearly empty and most of the people you encounter are wearing a mask. I could foresee problems with rental cars luggage carts airl

Morning safari at Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game ReserveToday we had to wake up extra early and leave Bibs Backpackers by 430 am to get on the bus to arrive at Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve for the morning safari. We had a packed breakfas

iSimangaliso Wetland Park In the afternoon the VESA African Unearth group headed of to the nearby iSimangaliso Wetland park for a nature walk with Johan one of our group leaders at the Crocodile Centre in St. Lucia. Johan is very k

Welcome to SwazilandToday we left St. Lucia and started to make our way to Swaziland. At the border because we were Canadian citizens we did not need to get a visa. However one of the volunteers of the VESA African unearth group from Thailand h

I took TX State Hwy 7 East to Center Texas for a good day. I took TX Hwy 87 SE to Shelbyville the first brief county seat for Shelby County and the Fire Department is my first pic in the City of Shelbyville. A block West of Fire Department is the First

BAPTISM OF FIREOur sixth cousin four generations removed was a fellow named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain from up in Maine. At the beginning of the Civil War Joshua was teaching the German language at Bowdoin College conducting Sunday school le

Mlilwane Wildlife SanctuaryWe woke up from our accommodation at Sondzela Backpackers to discover in our backyard warthogs grazing the grass. It finally dawned on us that we were in a sanctuary where animals had the right of way. The Mlil

Munich StopoverWe left Johannesburg South Africa on May 16th and arrived in Munich on May 17th. We had approximately 8 hours in Munich before we needed to head back to the airport for our flight to Toronto. Marienplatz

Are you getting up The navigator woke early this morning . I never heard him getting up . He was standing at the bottom of the bed What about your walk Are you bothering this morning I had made plans yesterday for todays walk . On the way home

Stuck isnt a word I think of often Its for children who get their arm wedged in the fence at a playground those idiots at bream sands who get stuck in the sand or that annoying jar lid that won't budge but we have had to accept that for the last few

Thursday 27th June 2019It was raining in the morning as I made my way to the city of Kobe. The train ride to JR Kobe Station from Himeji took about an hour and very soon I was making my way out of the station towards the direction of Kobe Harbo

It is Sunday. The shine is shining . It is a day of rest . But each day feels like a day of rest . Everyday feels like a Sunday. I could turn over fall asleep and have a late breakfast . Somehow along the way over the last 30 days walking has become an

WE HAVE RUN AGROUND CAPTAIN RANEYThe Arkansas and Colorado Rivers originate only a few miles apart in the Rocky Mountains near Leadville Colorado. They are however on opposite sides of the Continental Divide. Snowmelt in the Arkansas River d

From Mostars mountainous hills we drove to Sarajevo where snowcovered high mountains showed why it was host to the

Morning all I guess you will all be up and greeting the dawn . Sleep did not come easy last night . Tossing and turning . You get nights like that at times . Hoping that once your head hits the pillow you will fall asleep . Some nights you do. Others the

Rameshwaram is a holy town located on Pamban island and is separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel. It is just 40km from Mannar island Sri Lanka.

The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough Rabindranath Tagore one of my favourites. I saw the first butterfly of the season today . A Cabbage White the scourge of gardeners who love their cabbages . The pretty white things lays

Whoever originated the clich that money is the root of all evil knew hardly anything about the nature of evil and very little about human beings. Eric Hoffer21st April 2020 and the dashboard on the World Health Organis

So have you received your stimulus check or deposit yet On tax day April 15 we received ours tax free. And I promised to donate to Joe Biden which a check that has Orange man's name on it. Remember in 20082009 when Obama p

We had arrived in the city of Ouarzazate the name meaning without noise in late afternoon the previous day. We spent our one and only night here at the lovely Ksar Ighnda which had been a memorable experience for me the beautiful architecture of

I won't lie to you. My brain was Ok this morning accepting the fact that a walk was on the way after breakfast . It also knew that today was shopping day . The day of a telekit from work. It was my feet that were complaining . Complaining loudly at that

THE GREAT SPACE ALIEN MICROBE CONSPIRACYIt remains a mystery how space alien microbes arrived on the planet. It seems likely that they may have hitched a ride on cosmic radio waves. Rotation of the planet as it revolves on its axis and orbits ar

JOHNNY'S JOURNEYS CALIFORNIA and NEVADA 1980 November 26 1980 Wednesday My dad has temporarily transferred to Oakland California. The Bell South Telephone Co. inMontgomery AL will pay for him to fly back home every three weeks. Or

It was another amazing 3 hours flight over beautiful Indonesia. We spotted Mount Agung on Bali the crater lake of Mount Ijen and Mount Merapi on Java. There were no clouds no wind just sunshine when we touched down in Kuala Lumpur at 10 am. It was the 6t

The early morning dawn light was streaming in through the window . The time seemed irrelevant . It was still not quite light enough to rise . Looking at my watch I hoped the green luminous fingers would give me a clue to the time . It felt like 5am. The fi

Friday 28th June 2019I headed to the city of Takamatsu on the eastern end of Shikoku island this morning. This is as far as my railway pass could take me given that I had only purchased the limited SanyoSan'in Area Pass rather than the all Jap

Yesterday it was horses birds coots on the pond rabbits and squirrels . Today chickens. Guinea Fowl a bit of an odd sight around the village as they walked alongside me. My plan was to head out into the countryside . Luckily living on the spine of Eng

Friday 28th June 2019 From Yashima I made a trip back to the city centre where the Takamatsu Symbol Tower is located. Towering 30th stories above ground level there is a public observatory where free views of the city could be had. Following

The work of fiction known as the weather forecast has been giving us a sandwich message the last few days. The good news the bread of the sandwich has been that April has been a lovely month . No April showers. Wall to wall sunshine. Then came the fillin

Russia's first Tsar Ivan the Terrible had 7 wives...3 died resulting in his remarriage following their demise and 3 were sent to a monastery.G. Manaev in an Article The madness of 3 Russian Tsars and the truth behind it says 3 wives that die

When dining with neophytes at a Japanese noodle bar the question always comes up. What are the various types of noodles and which one will I like The short answer try them all. Or just order what I order So basic flour and water like most pasta

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning cold cuts cheese fresh bread banana although I left early to write sketchy travel notes. This tour is so full I cant record it all before the next day. Not a bad thing.Our guide Boris met us at our

My friend Mizzi who lives in Melbourne Australia and I had decided to meet somewhere halfway between Germany and Australia for a holiday. I had suggested Borneo since I had wanted to go there during my year in Singapore but had never made it there. Mizz

Im very much a believer that its action that matters much more so than you know the flurry of political promises and statements and slogans that are used during political discourse. Christine LagardeThe WHO dashboard as

Thankyou to my travelblog friend you know who you are for introducing the colour Borage Blue to my collection of colours . She told me that the plant I struggled finding a name for yesterday was Borage . An electric blue and a stunning plant .Anothe